From: Scott Vermillion (scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com)
Date: Sun Sep 02 2007 - 19:39:49 ART
Hi Gary,
I guess I'm curious about what type of setup you'd like to put together.
Sounds like you have plenty of hardware, so I'm assuming you're
interested in a Dynamips server for router emulation and then you'll use
your physical switches?
I think one weekend might be aggressive, but it's possible. I would
suggest going to www.dynagen.com/tutorial.htm and have a thorough read a
few times over. Then maybe install this on your Windows box, if that's
what you run at home. Dynamips performance on Windows isn't great, but
you can do any of the Doyle topologies w/ a modern proc and decent RAM.
This will give you the feel of Dynamips/Dyangen before you jump into
doing remote/distributed Dynamips servers, etc. It's not that
remote/distributed is all that complicated, but it's just easier if you
start of with routers only running on a local machine.
I'll up the ante. If you get that up and running, I'll send you a
handful of my .net files from that book. Part of learning Dynagen is
doing that for yourself, but you might find it beneficial to have a few
sent to you so you can see how it all clicks together. Then start doing
them on your own as learning tool. Before you know it, you'll be
cranking out .net files left and right (and you'll quickly see that
taking one .net file and saving it under a new name is often a great
little shortcut if you can find an existing .net topology that's similar
to what you're trying to do).
When you get to the point of setting up a dedicated Dynamips server
connected out to your physical switches, you might have the benefit of a
"how to" that the Brians have been talking about putting together. Or
you can have a read of my "blog" posts (which should be centralized w/in
a matter of a few days I'm guessing).
Cheers,
Scott
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Dynagen folks...
From: Gary Duncanson <gary.duncanson@googlemail.com>
Date: Sun, September 02, 2007 3:41 pm
To: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
Cc: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Hi Scott,
I may very well invest in this before year end. What do I need to get
the
whole schbang fizzing away at home?
Assuming I get everything I need ordered where is the best cookbook
to set
this stuff up and the files/patches I assume you need.
I suppose milage will vary but is a weekend a reasonable timeframe
you have
to spend dicking about getting dynamips working just so and learning
how to
put a topology together?
I like the idea of saving topologies and configurations and getting
them up
and running quickly. Interesting you mentioned Doyle because those
are
precisely the examples Im labbing at home and it is rather
timeconsuming
recabling and clearing configs.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
To: "Cisco certification" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 7:23 PM
Subject: RE: Dynagen folks...
> Hi Gary,
>
> There is an up-front investment of your time to learn the ropes of
> Dynamips and to get it tweaked to your own personal preferences
(yes,
> there are many things that are a matter of choice). Once you've
made
> that initial investment, though, you will make that time back very
> quickly. For example, I have a lab for a good many of the
> figures/examples in Routing TCP/IP Vol I. Whenever somebody over on
the
> board asks a question I'm interested in but don't quite know the
answer
> to, I pick one of those that's close, tweak it if necessary, click
the
> mouse a few times, do some direct interface capture, and find my
answer
> via WireShark. Were I to have to do this w/ a HW lab, flashing old
> configs here and there, re-cabling, etc, I just don't think I'd
even
> try. Too much time to invest.
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Re: Dynagen folks...
> From: Gary Duncanson <gary.duncanson@googlemail.com>
> Date: Sun, September 02, 2007 4:42 am
> To: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
> Cc: <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
>
> I'm comfortable with my home lab for the moment. I work fulltime
and
> study
> in the evenings. I find my rack of old equipment plus a couple of
> 3550's
> serves most of my needs and it's paid for. For the rest I use
remote
> racks
> and usually don't have a problem getting the slot I want.
>
> I do wonder if setting all the dynamips stuff up would be a royal
> pain in
> the ass. I will however set one up in due course as I like the
laptop
> idea
> when you are on the move or in hotels (internet charges in those
> places are
> not pretty).
>
> Regards
> Gary
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Scott Vermillion" <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
> To: "Cisco certification" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 6:05 PM
> Subject: RE: Dynagen folks...
>
> > Scott,
> >
> > I will ask of you the same thing I asked of Joe:
> >
> > Please be specific on what you can do w/ a stack of e-bay routers
> that
> > you cannot do in Dynamips *that matters in the lab.* I'm honestly
> > interested in hearing from people on that issue.
> >
> > I agree that there is a time investment to get this set up. And a
> $$
> > investment in the real switches. But I have now have 24/7 access
to
> a
> > full "rack" and I don't have to schedule anything with anybody.
For
> > those of us who remove ourselves from the working world while we
> prepare
> > for the lab, this can actually be a cost savings (every day that
> goes by
> > is a day I can't bill any clients for my time, so the more
intense
> I am
> > about this, the sooner I get back in the money).
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Scott
> >
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: RE: Dynagen folks...
> > From: "Scott Morris" <smorris@ipexpert.com>
> > Date: Sat, September 01, 2007 5:48 am
> > To: "'darth router'" <darklordrouter@gmail.com>, "'Scott
> > Vermillion'"
> > <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
> > Cc: "'Cisco certification'" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> >
> > And the self-handling have no risk of STD. ;)
> >
> > Anyway, there are some subtle things that cannot be done on a
> > virtualized
> > devices. There is a LOT of time to be spent in order to get a
full
> > system
> > setup and integrated with real switches in order to get the full
> > flavor of
> > actual equipment/lab.
> >
> > However, it's a bit cheaper to go virtual! Either way, virtual
> stuff
> > isn't
> > a substitute for real equipment, but I don't think it would add
up
> to
> > someone failing because they just did Dynamips. Unless of course,
> > they did
> > Dynampis exclusively on routers and virtualized ethernet
> connections
> > without
> > touching ANY switches. Then there would be a significant number
of
> > points
> > lost and likely unable to recover enough to pass.
> >
> > Worst case, do most of the L3 'n' up studies on Dynamips.... Go
> rent
> > some
> > rack time and concentrate on the L2/ethernet side of things.
> Problem
> > solved, money saved.
> >
> > Ya know there's a holiday for your parenthetical analogy
there....
> > Palm
> > Sunday. ;)
> >
> > Scott Morris, CCIE4 (R&S/ISP-Dial/Security/Service Provider)
#4713,
> > JNCIE
> > #153, CISSP, et al.
> > CCSI/JNCI-M/JNCI-J
> > VP - Technical Training - IPexpert, Inc.
> > IPexpert Sr. Technical Instructor
> >
> > A Cisco Learning Partner - We Accept Learning Credits!
> >
> > smorris@ipexpert.com
> >
> > Telephone: +1.810.326.1444
> > Fax: +1.810.454.0130
> > http://www.ipexpert.com
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On
> Behalf
> > Of
> > darth router
> > Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 3:04 AM
> > To: Scott Vermillion
> > Cc: Cisco certification
> > Subject: Re: Dynagen folks...
> >
> > You guys are going it all wrong. You have to fight analogy with
> > analogy.
> >
> > (Even if you arent a virgin, sometimes you would just rather
whack
> > off) =
> > DYNAMIPS!
> >
> > I had a full CCIE lab, sold it, recouped money, and dynamips is
> much
> > much
> > more efficient as far as building topologies and changing things.
> >
> > bwahahahhaha!
> >
> > On 9/1/07, Scott Vermillion <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I'll take this a step further Joe (and maybe you have a good
> > answer, I
> > > don't presuppose with any degree of certainty, but I can
> suspect):
> > >
> > > Other than some of the text that flies by during the boot
> sequence,
> > if
> > > the Brians secretly redirected you to a rack where the routers
> were
> > > all Dynamips instances (excepting the ISR, which Dynagen does
not
> > > emulate as of this time), how would you know they had done
that,
> > > exactly? Would it be the "feel" perhaps? The "force" maybe?
> > >
> > > I'll tell you one way you might notice: I can boot a router
> > instance
> > > on this Mac Mini in a matter of a few seconds! I get "press
> return
> > to
> > > get started" in a very small fraction of the time I do when
> booting
> > a
> > > hardware router. Other than that and the aforementioned text
> thing,
> > > I'm not sure how you'd ever even know sitting from afar?
> > >
> > > -------- Original Message --------
> > > Subject: RE: Dynagen folks...
> > > From: Scott Vermillion <scott_ccie_list@it-ag.com>
> > > Date: Fri, August 31, 2007 10:38 pm
> > > To: Cisco certification <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> > >
> > > I am a true Dynamips/Dynagen believer and have built my lab
prep
> > > "rack"
> > > around it/them. Please explain, Joe, how I will fail the CCIE
lab
> > > because of it ("nothing else can prepare you for the real
> thing")?
> > > What
> > > is it about that "feel" that makes the difference (can you go
> > "feel"
> > > the
> > > routers during the practical? Can you "feel" the routers in
that
> > > remote
> > > rack?)?
> > >
> > > This has the potential to become the next "CCIE vs. college
> degree"
> > > topic, me thinks. It's probably not a very good use of
bandwidth,
> > > come
> > > to think of it LOL, but I can't resist asking you to elaborate
on
> > > these
> > > seemingly unfounded generalizations. I would prefer that you
> answer
> > > with
> > > "I have hardware routers and I also run Dynamips/Dynagen on a
> > machine
> > > of
> > > sufficient horsepower, and here are the things I can do on the
> > former
> > > that I can't do on the latter *that matter in the lab* (i.e.
> don't
> > > tell
> > > me about toggling the power switch...yawn...you can't do that
in
> > the
> > > lab
> > > anyway by all accounts I've ever heard).
> > >
> > > I'll start, going the opposite direction:
> > >
> > > I run Dynamips/Dynagen on a machine of sufficient horsepower,
and
> I
> > > can
> > > directly capture traffic from a router interface into a .cap
file
> > and
> > > scrutinize every one and zero using open source WireShark. When
I
> > > want
> > > to do that w/ physical routers, I have to use Ethernet (no
> serial)
> > > and
> > > set up a span port on a switch or put a hub in between the two
> > > routers,
> > > with a machine running WireShark hanging off of the hub (and
I'm
> > > obviously in HDX at this point, which means the test
environment
> is
> > > different than the non-test environment). Otherwise, I'm
limited
> to
> > > only
> > > debug. I, of course, acknowledge that you're limited to only
> debug
> > in
> > > the lab, but in your preparation for the lab, it's powerful to
> have
> > > such
> > > a tool at your disposal so that you can truly understand what's
> > going
> > > on
> > > under the hood when you see certain debug output.
> > >
> > > BTW, I'm told Juniper has this capability to write .cap files
on
> > > physical
> > > routers, but I cannot personall y verify. I have never heard of
> > such
> > > a
> > > capability on Cisco routers, but I'd love to be proven wrong.
> > >
> > > There are more, of course, but I've already stated many of them
> in
> > > other
> > > recent threads and posts...
> > >
> > > -------- Original Message --------
> > > Subject: Dynagen folks...
> > > From: "Joseph Brunner" <joe@affirmedsystems.com>
> > > Date: Fri, August 31, 2007 9:53 pm
> > > To: "'Cisco certification'" <ccielab@groupstudy.com>
> > >
> > > Nothing feels as good as the real thing. And else nothing can
> > prepare
> > > you
> > > for the real thing.
> > >
> > > (Remember if you only have had sex with a condom, your still a
> > > virgin, LOL)
> > >
> > > Check out the Brian's racks!
> > >
> > > http://www.affirmedsystems.com/photos/IERACKS.JPG
> > >
> > > Rack12R6#sh vers
> > >
> > > Cisco IOS Software, 2800 Software (C2800NM-ADVENTERPRISEK9-M),
> > > Version
> > > 12.4(13a), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
> > >
> > > Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
> > >
> > > Copyright (c) 1986-2007 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
> > >
> > > Compiled Tue 06-Mar-07 17:01 by prod_rel_team
> > >
> > > ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.4(13r)T, RELEASE SOFTWARE
(fc1)
> > >
> > > Rack12R6 uptime is 6 hours, 4 minutes
> > >
> > > System returned to ROM by power-on
> > >
> > > System image file is
> "flash:c2800nm-adventerprisek9-mz.124-13a.bin"
> > >
> > > This product contains cryptographic features and is subject to
> > > United
> > >
> > > States and local country laws governing import, export,
transfer
> > and
> > >
> > > use. Delivery of Cisco cryptographic products does not imply
> > >
> > > third-party authority to import, export, distribute or use
> > > encryption.
> > >
> > > Importers, exporters, distributors and users are responsible
for
> > >
> > > compliance with U.S. and local country laws. By using this
> product
> > > you
> > >
> > > agree to comply with applicable laws and regulations. If you
are
> > > unable
> > >
> > > to comply with U.S. and local laws, return this product
> > immediately.
> > >
> > > A summary of U.S. laws governing Cisco cryptographic products
may
> > be
> > > found
> > > at:
> > >
> > > http://www.cisco.com/wwl/export/crypto/tool/stqrg.html
> > >
> > > If you require further assistance please contact us by sending
> > email
> > > to
> > >
> > > export@cisco.com.
> > >
> > > Cisco 2811 (revision 53.50) with 196608K/65536K bytes of
memory.
> > >
> > > Processor board ID FTX1101A1Z0
> > >
> > > 2 FastEthernet interfaces
> > >
> > > 1 Serial(sync/async) interface
> > >
> > > 1 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Module
> > >
> > > DRAM configuration is 64 bits wide with parity enabled.
> > >
> > > 239K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.
> > >
> > > 253160K bytes of USB Flash usbflash1 (Read/Write)
> > >
> > > 62720K bytes of ATA CompactFlash (Read/Write)
> > >
> > > Configuration register is 0x2142 (will be 0x2102 at next
reload)
> > >
> > >
> >
>
_______________________________________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
> >
>
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> > >
> >
>
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> >
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> >
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